Suffer essentially absurd stigma (7)
I believe the answer is:
sustain
'suffer' is the definition.
(I know that suffer can be written as sustain)
'essentially absurd stigma' is the wordplay.
'essentially' means to look at the middle letters.
'stigma' becomes 'stain' (synonyms).
The middle letters of 'absurd' are 'su'.
'su'+'stain'='SUSTAIN'
(Other definitions for sustain that I've seen before include "Bear, hold, up" , "Strengthen; suffer" , "Keep up; hold for a long time" , "Support, keep going" , "Carry" .)